We use cookies for analytics, personalised content and advertisements. By clicking 'Accept' or continuing to browse our site and clicking through, you agree to such use and the sharing of your data. To find out more or withdraw your consent see our Cookie Settings.

It's official - Recent Mega Moolah win is the new Guinness World Record

It's official - Recent Mega Moolah win is the new Guinness World Record

Over recent times there have been a number of different companies and slot developers who have claimed at one point or another that their software or site has held the record for awarding online punters.

Now though, there is no more debate or confusion. This comes after we talked to the Guinness World Records spokesperson who confirmed that following a submission from Betway and Microgaming 1, their recent jackpot winner Jon Heywood is now the record holder for the largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game.

A spokesperson for the Guinness World Records told MegaMoolah.com 2 that "I'm pleased to confirm that that the Guinness World Records title for the largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game (nominal) is €17,880,900 ($20,066,800, £13,213,838), which which was won by Jon Heywood, while playing Mega Moolah. And Jon is certainly in the moolah now, thanks to his exceptional stroke of luck."

This is a notable achievement by Microgaming and Mega Moolah to get the record ratified by Guinness World Records, who have become the leading authority when it comes to records and record-breaking, across the globe.

In order to verify the authenticity of their claim that Jon's big win back in October was a world's best, both the casino and Microgaming had to submit extensive evidence to Guinness World Records to back up their claim. This was further triangulated by confirmation from eCOGRA 3 that they too felt that Mr Heywood's win was the largest ever online jackpot payout.

That evidence was submitted for review by a panel at Guinness World Records who after reviewing the data, agreed that this win was indeed a world record and should be acknowledged as such.

Why would there be any confusion as to this world record?

Part of the problem stems from the fact that the online gaming industry is still very much a fledgling industry and while sites are keen to promote themselves and the games they represent, there isn't a general overview available of what constitutes a 'record' for within the industry.

This is easily visible when in the past, if you performed a search for the biggest jackpots won, or similar, you would often end up with several different articles, blog posts and advertisements all claiming that a player at this particular casino website, or at a land-based casino, had won the 'largest' jackpot.

This is not because companies were being disingenuous, but simply because there was no way of checking what the record was, so if a player won a sizeable jackpot, it was safe to assume that this was likely a record.

That changed however when in 2013, a Finnish player won what was clearly the world's largest jackpot playing the Mega Fortune, with another provider. That jackpot, equated to around €17,866,000, whereas Mr Heywood's jackpot win was €13,000 greater than the current record.

The currency complexity

Added into this is the complication that comes from having jackpots reported and paid out in different currencies. As anybody who has ever travelled between countries will know, how much a US dollar is worth one day compared to the Euro, changes.

One day your $100 may buy you $95 Euros, another time it may buy you 90 Euro, or another time it may buy you closer to 100 Euro.

This has led to a large degree of confusion amongst online progressive jackpot fans as to what is the biggest win. If you win a US$5m jackpot, is that more than a €4.3m Euro jackpot win or a £3m British Pound victory?

What level of exchange rate do you use? The level today, or the level that the exchange rate was at when the jackpot was won and if you are going to use one currency to compare jackpot wins, which one do you use?

Until Guinness' announcement, these were very real barriers to deciding what officially is the biggest payout online. However now that Guinness are using the amount in Euro's won by Mr Heywood, this has now set the clear standard at which all future records will be judged.

Will Mega Moolah strike it lucky again for one other player?

Most certainly! Mega Moolah has been making winners since 2008 when Klaus E (yet another player from Finland) won one of the first ever big Mega Moolah jackpots worth US$5.5m when playing on the Blackjack Ballroom Casino 5. In fact he had just a few days earlier received a casino installation CD from Blackjack Ballroom and decided to give it a go. After installation he spun the Mega Moolah a few times and hit the mother lode. You can read more about Klaus and other Mega Moolah winners on the winners page.

While there is no guarantee that the next jackpot won by a player on Mega Moolah will be a new record, what is absolutely true to say is that there is no limit to what the Mega Moolah progressive jackpot can grow to, so there is every chance that at some point in the future the jackpot will climb above and beyond that of Mr Heywood's win.

When it does, the next lucky player to trigger it will be the new jackpot holder. Although it should be noted there are other progressive jackpot slots that could also set a new jackpot in the meantime too. However the chances of that are slim. It's basically a match between the Mega Fortune and the more famous Mega Moolah.

The reason for this is that there is no limit on what the progressive can grow to and the fact that Mega Moolah is a completely random game, meaning you can win the jackpot on any qualifying spin at any time. Sometimes a jackpot can be won twice in a short space of time, at other times, it can be many months before it is won again.

If that is the case, then that means more players playing and spinning the reels, which contributes more to the progressive fund which will then keep on growing.

It's difficult to know when Jon Heywood's record will be broken, but the one big positive for the online gaming industry is now that we have an official world record, everybody knows that the standard has been set and what the bar is set at in order to truly claim a new record.

3) eCOGRA is a leading independent and internationally approved testing agency, specialising in the certification of online gaming software and systems in the United Kingdom.https://www.ecogra.com/ata/news.php

4) Blackjack Ballroom is licensed and regulated in several jurisdictions including the United Kingdom.